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National R&D

RemediGrass

Seagrass beds as green and blue infrastructures for ecosystem restoration

Principal Investigator
Researcher

I am an Assistant Researcher at CIIMAR-UP, where I study the structure and functioning of marine ecosystems, considering natural, anthropogenic and climate change. My primary focus has been on benthic communities, including plants, invertebrates and fish, to understand the implications of altered diversity on ecosystem functioning. I am particularly interested in using this knowledge to contribute to decision-support frameworks for environmental management.
Currently, my research is directed towards exploring the importance of habitat-forming species as Nature-Based Solutions in mitigating and adapting to climate change. Additionally, I am actively involved in Ocean Literacy initiatives.

RESEARCH TEAMS:

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This project aims to contribute to target 2 of the EU Biodiversity Strategy to 2020 states that “By 2020, ecosystems and their services are maintained and enhanced by establishing green infrastructure and restoring at least 15% of degraded ecosystems&quot.

The novelty of the project will be the development of a remediation tool for historically contaminated estuaries, through the use of seagrass beds as a green and blue infrastructure (GBI). The re-colonization of impacted areas with seagrasses will enhance natural attenuation through sediment stabilization and accretion, accelerating the recovery of degraded systems, while increasing biodiversity and ecosystem services. Contaminant bioavailability and trophic transfer are also expected to decrease after recovery measures. The development of scenarios on long-term effects of the intervention on ecosystem resilience, ecosystem services, rehabilitation cost and funding options (cost-profit budget) will allow to evaluate the potential of seagrass ecosystems as candidate GBI.

Leader Institution
UA - Universidade de Aveiro
Program
Portugal 2020
Funding
Other projects